On the run

John Irving did not actually attend his induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma, some 15 years ago. But now he wishes he had. “I regret it,” Irving admits during a call to his hotel room in San Francisco, where he has come to dine with Bay Area booksellers prior to the publication of his exuberantly...

Two thumbs up for 'The Fourth Hand'

There is something different, something a tad experimental about John Irving's newest novel, The Fourth Hand.Yes, the book offers the familiar pleasures of any John Irving novel -- a well-turned plot, an antic mixture of comedy and tragedy, and profound observations about the wounds and consolations of romantic and sexual love, to name just...

John Irving and the architecture of character

"I hold a novel accountable for a good story," says John Irving during a conversation about A Widow for One Year, his ninth and most intricately crafted novel yet. "And by a good story, I mean one that's a little too complicated and twisted and circumlocuitous to be easily encapsulated in a newspaper or television story."It's...